Twelve
The next morning, Clarity, Ms. Marquez, and the girls got up to watch sunrise around six thirty from the roof top terrace of the SGP building. Clarity wrapped a blanket she found in a closet used by the cleaning lady and stared at the panoramic view of the hills in front of her. After sunrise, they had a swim in the pool doing a few cartwheels, followed by a quick breakfast consisting of juice and a chocolate bar, both drawn from a vending machine on the tenth floor. By eight thirty, they ran into Charlie.
“Ms. Marquez, we have a problem, the police cars are not letting our delivery trucks out from the dock in the back of the building.” Ms. Marquez sighed.
“If our trucks can´t get out, they won´t be able to deliver,” said Ms. Marquez, “today´s the fifteenth of the month, we need to pay most of our suppliers. And we need to keep delivering in order to cash our receivables.”
“We´ll create a diversion,” said Clarity.
“How?” asked Lanai.
“Us,” said Clarity.
Ten minutes later, Clarity and the girls reached the front entrance naked. Charlie was walking in front of them to alert them of any police presence, and a few times, Clarity reminded him to look ahead of him, not behind. Keys of Ms. Marquez´car in hand, she divided the action teams into two groups, her and Lanai, and Cynthia and Taimi. She snugged behind a column and gauged the situation outside. Packwood was having a take out breakfast in his car with an assistant. Two other police cars were blocking access to the parking lot, and Ms. Marquez alerted them that two other police cars were blocking the delivery exit for SGP trucks. The diversion would have to be on foot.
Clarity made her way to the logistics dock entrance with Lanai, and ran into the head of the logistics department, who applauded their idea to face police naked to create a diversion. She waved a sign to Lanai and they sprinted outside to the asphalt of the dock entrance. A few seconds later, they reached Ms. Marquez car, followed by two police officers asking them to stop.
Clarity saw Packwood busy running after Cynthia and Taimi near the entrance of the building. She turned the car key and rolled forward with the car, on the garden grass, followed by the officers. The garden in the back of SGP was like a golf course, spanning several acres. The two officers eventually realized they needed their cars to engage in their not so trivial pursuit, and a few minutes later, the dock access was free.
From her rear view mirror, Clarity saw the two police cars roll closer towards their car, and she decided it was time to start the action on foot. She stepped out of the car followed by Lanai and they ran to a small set of trees hidden from the police cars´ view. From there, once the cars were reaching Ms. Marquez´ car, they ran back into the building, watching the familiar logo of SGP trucks roll away to the nearby road. She saw Packwood run after them and jumped on a free dock to reenter the building, followed by Lanai, who was panting, and by Cynthia and Taimi, who had performed their diversion at the front entrance perfectly. By the time Packwood reached them inside the building in the hallway, Ms. Marquez was there with blankets for the four girls.
“Stop right there ladies, you´re under arrest,” said Packwood.
“They´re clothed now,” said Ms. Marquez right away, “they´re not doing anything illegal, you cannot under any circumstance arrest them, the arrest warrant is not binding after twenty four hours under article twenty seven of the sixth bylaw protecting the individual freedoms as defined by our founding fathers.”
“It´s good to know the Law,” whispered Lanai to Clarity.
In turn, Clarity whispered a sentence to Ms. Marquez, whose eyes lit up.
“I…I have an important press conference with the District Attorney,” said Ms. Marquez, “and these ladies have essential testimony to reveal.”
Clarity saw Lanai wave towards the dock area.
“The Slothtrack Express truck with our thongs, I can see it it´s in the back, it´s…it´s…it´s leaving, the police cars are blocking delivery access. It´s…it´s gone.”
“Come Clarity,” said Ms. Marquez, “we have to prepare the conference with the D.A. All our trucks left, our cash flow is safe for another week.”
“I´ll come back,” said Packwood, pointing menacingly at Ms. Marquez as he walked away, “the only way you are all leaving this building is arrested inside our police car.”